(Minghui.org) “Labor camp guards dragged me into a room, and six inmates came in. They beat me, kicked me, and stomped on me. I rolled on the ground in pain. The guards walked around as if they didn't see anything. One of my ears was bent out of shape, and I lost most of my hearing from that point on.”
“The guards enticed inmates with sentence reductions to have them torture us.”
Above are excerpts from the criminal complaint sent to the Supreme People's Procuratorate in August 2015 by Ms. Geng Lijuan, 61, a resident of Nantong, Jiangsu Province. Ms. Geng sued Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party, for persecuting her because she did not abandon her spiritual belief, Falun Gong.
Because she spoke out against the persecution, Ms. Geng was sent to a forced labor camp in 2000 for 2 years. Because she refused to renounce the practice, her term at the labor camp was extended by 11 months. But even when the extended term expired, the police still did not release her, but instead transferred her to a brainwashing center.
After four months of torture and brainwashing at the brainwashing center, the Nantong 610 Office, an extralegal agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, sentenced her to another two years in the labor camp. There, she suffered even more torture.
“For five years, I was transferred between the labor camp and brainwashing center. 610 Office agents closely followed Jiang's persecution policy. I felt helpless. I only wanted to be a good person in my spiritual practice, but the government spared no efforts in persecuting me. What has happened to our society? Why were they afraid of good people?” Ms. Geng wrote.
Becoming a Better Person Because of Falun Gong
Ms. Geng recalled her how happy she was when she started practicing Falun Gong in May 1997. “I gained a whole new perspective on life.” she said.
“Before that, life was full of struggles for me. My husband divorced me when our son was still very little. That made me depressed. The practice gave me the courage to face life's challenges. I forgave my husband and also took on the responsibility of caring for his parents and his sister, who was paralyzed and bedridden.”
Extended Terms and Tortures
Ms. Geng said, “When Jiang started the persecution in 1999, my heart was broken. I couldn't understand why he wanted to persecute such a good practice.”
She went to Beijing to appeal in late 1999. After she returned, the police ransacked her home and arranged for people to monitor her at work. “I suddenly became the 'class enemy,'” she said.
She went to Beijing to appeal a second time in July 2000, and was arrested at Tiananmen Square. The police beat her at the police station. After she was sent home, the local police ransacked her home twice within three months, and held her at a detention center for two months.
The police suddenly broke into her home one evening in December 2000. She was taken to a secret place, where she wasn't allowed to sleep, and interrogated around the clock. Because she refused to renounce her practice, she was sentenced to two years of forced labor.
She was taken to the Judong Women's Forced Labor Camp in January 2001. “It is a hellish place. With orders from the guards, the inmates beat all the Falun Gong practitioners. We weren't allowed to talk, and sometimes weren't allowed to sleep,” Ms. Geng wrote in her complaint.
“The guards once ordered six inmates to force-feed me with unknown drugs for a month, which made me very weak. But even so, the inmates still forced me to stand for a long time each day, and they beat me very often.”
Because she refused to give up her belief despite the torture, the labor camp extended her term by 11 months. When the term expired in September 2003, instead of being released, local 610 Office agents took her to the Langshan Brainwashing Center.
Ms. Geng described the torture she suffered at the brainwashing center, “The guards beat me, choked me, and smashed a chair on me. To humiliate me, they poured water on my face. For four months, I was forced to stand for a long time, and subjected to intensive brainwashing each day.”
“No matter how hard they beat or humiliated me, I knew very clearly in my heart that there was nothing wrong with the practice, and my Teacher asking me to be a good person. I couldn't do things against my conscience,” she said.
Ms. Geng was returned to the Judong Women's Forced Labor Camp in February 2004, and was given two more years there. The persecution and torture against her escalated.
“I was deprived of sleep and wasn't allowed to use the restroom. Sometimes they exposed my eyes to very strong light, causing tremendous pain. To humiliate me, they forced me to stand for hours, naked. Sometimes they forced me to stand on a tall, narrow bench from which I would easily fall,” she said.
Background
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.
The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.
Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.
Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.
